It is well known that full faced vehicle wheels with full faced discs are desirable because of the attractive appearance of a continuous disc surface extending from the central portion of the disc out through the disc flange.
Numerous prior methods of manufacture have been carried out to achieve this result, including bimetal wheels where aluminum cast wheels are assembled to rolled steel rims by the use of inserts into the aluminum disc to which the steel rim is welded, and/or by inserting the end of the rim into a groove in the cast aluminum disc. The manufacturing operations of the above are complex and require precise relative dimensioning of parts.
Other full face wheel designs utilize steel discs and steel rims, wherein the rim edge is welded perpendicularly to the inner surface of the disc flange; or the rim edge is downturned to a terminating cylindrical surface which engages small discontinuous flat disc projections; or the disc has an area with one or more bumps or beads into which is rolled the rim outer beadseat; or wherein the disc flange is cut, notched, machined and/or bent over to form a ledge for the rim beadseat to engage. In the first instance, the assembled structure may not be as strong as desired. In the second instance, very precise machining and dimensioning are required and no beadseat area is present on the disc but for the small cylindrical discontinuous disc projections; in the third and fourth instances, more complex manufacturing operations are contemplated.
Examples of prior art relating to the above and other full faced designs include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,591,386; 5,526,977; 5,634,694; 5,257,455; 5,421,642; 5,435,632; 5,027,508; 5,295,304; 5,188,429; 5,803,553, 5,647,126; 5,538,329; 4,610,482 and 3,506,311.